The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)
- Open Systems Interconnection
- developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- has seven layers
- is a theoretical system delivered too late!
- TCP/IP is the de facto standard
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model was developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO - which is not an acronym but a word, derived from the Greek isos, meaning equal) as a model for a computer protocol architecture and as a framework for developing protocol standards. The OSI model consists of seven layers. The designers of OSI assumed that this model and the protocols developed within this model would come to dominate computer communications, eventually replacing proprietary protocol implementations and rival multivendor models such as TCP/IP. This has not happened. Although many useful protocols have been developed in the context of OSI, the overall seven-layer model has not flourished. Instead, the TCP/IP architecture has come to dominate.
OSI Layers
Stallings DCC8e Figure 2.6 illustrates the OSI model and provides a brief definition of the functions performed at each layer. The intent of the OSI model is that protocols be developed to perform the functions of each layer.
OSI v TCP/IP
There are a number of reasons why the TCP/IP architecture has come to dominate. Perhaps the most important is that the key TCP/IP protocols were mature and well tested at a time when similar OSI protocols were in the development stage. When businesses began to recognize the need for interoperability across networks, only TCP/IP was available and ready to go. Another reason is that the OSI model is unnecessarily complex, with seven layers to accomplish what TCP/IP does with fewer layers. Stallings DCC8e Figure 2.7 illustrates the layers of the TCP/IP and OSI architectures, showing roughly the correspondence in functionality between the two.